The sequestration of federal funds due to take place the first of next year, will not only severely cut federal spending, it will also cut federal jobs across the board and will hit the Defense Department and its suppliers the hardest. That is likely to have an impact on Illinois.
 
A report by Stephen Fuller of George Mason University shows Illinois will lose 23,000 defense related jobs and another 30,000 other jobs. “Illinois happens to be, as Chicago as a headquarters location for the federal government, the regional headquarters, it has a lot of federal agencies as a disproportionate share of federal functions,” Fuller said.
 
Fuller says beyond the job figures, there may be more impacts on jobs and companies because of what he calls the rolling effect.  He says even United Airlines headquarter in Chicago could be impacted by sequestration cuts at the Federal Aviation Administration.
 
While Illinois has the sixth largest economy, 10 states would be hurt more by sequestration than Illinois. It’s one benefit of having a smaller dependence on defense department jobs.
 

(Posted 7/18/2012 at 6:25am, Illinois Radio Network)